Directory
Fishing spots around the world
Guides to saltwater fishing in 100+ top destinations. Each page covers the target species, best times of year, tides and tactics, then opens the live conditions and Bite Score for that spot.
Tap a numbered bubble to zoom into that area, and a pin for the spot's fishing guide and charters. Use ctrl/⌘ + scroll (or two fingers) to zoom.
US Northeast
Montauk, New York
The tip of Long Island is one of the great striped bass and false albacore destinations on the US East Coast. Fall runs here are legendary, with bait pushed tight to the point and blitzes visible from shore.
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Cape Cod, Massachusetts
The Cape's beaches, canal, and flats hold striped bass and bluefish through the warm months, with sight-fishing on the flats and blitz fishing along the outer beaches.
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Rockaway, New York
Rockaway and Jamaica Bay put striped bass, bluefish, and fluke within reach of New York City. Beaches, jetties, and the bay's channels all produce through the season.
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Block Island, Rhode Island
Block Island's boulder fields and tide rips make it one of the most storied striped bass grounds in the Northeast, with Southwest Ledge giving up trophy fish every June and July. Late summer brings bonito and false albacore crashing bait around the island, with fluke and sea bass filling the sandy edges in between.
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Gloucester, Massachusetts
America's oldest seaport is one of the premier giant bluefin tuna ports on the Atlantic coast, with Stellwagen Bank and Jeffreys Ledge a short steam from the harbor. The fishery made famous by the tuna fleet here draws anglers from around the world, while striped bass and bluefish work bait along the rocky Cape Ann shoreline all summer.
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US Southeast
Outer Banks, North Carolina
Cape Hatteras and the OBX are a surfcasting mecca and a gateway to the Gulf Stream. Red drum, bluefish, and cobia work the beaches while offshore boats chase mahi, tuna, and billfish.
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Charleston, South Carolina
The Lowcountry's marshes and creeks are redfish and speckled trout country, with flood-tide tailing reds on the grass flats a signature experience.
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Miami, Florida
Miami offers everything from bonefish and tarpon on Biscayne Bay flats to sailfish and mahi a short run offshore. It is one of the most diverse saltwater fisheries in the world.
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Florida Keys, Florida
The Keys are the flats-fishing capital of the world - the home of the bonefish, tarpon, and permit 'grand slam' - with world-class reef and offshore fishing on the other side.
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Fort Lauderdale, Florida
Off Fort Lauderdale the ocean floor drops to several hundred feet within a couple of miles of the beach, so charter boats out of Port Everglades are fishing blue water minutes after clearing the inlet. That steep edge holds winter sailfish and kingfish, with mahi and wahoo running the current seams beyond it.
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Hilton Head Island, South Carolina
Hilton Head's marshes, sounds, and big tidal rivers make it one of the Lowcountry's premier inshore charter destinations. The spring cobia run into the Broad River is a signature local fishery, and bull redfish school around the sound in fall while tarpon roll along the beaches in late summer.
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Islamorada, Florida
Islamorada bills itself as the Sportfishing Capital of the World, and the density of charter and guide boats at its marinas backs up the claim. Few places let you catch a sailfish on the ocean side in the morning and pole a Florida Bay flat for bonefish or a backcountry snook the same afternoon.
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Jacksonville, Florida
Where the St. Johns River meets the Atlantic, Jacksonville anchors one of the Southeast's great king mackerel fisheries and hosts the long-running Greater Jacksonville Kingfish Tournament each summer. The river mouth and jetties also hold some of Florida's biggest bull redfish, with schools of oversized drum staging there in late summer and fall.
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Key West, Florida
The southernmost town in the continental US sits within reach of the Gulf Stream, the Marquesas flats, and the wrecks of the Gulf, giving its big charter fleet more variety than almost anywhere in Florida. Winter sailfishing on the reef edge and the spring tarpon run through the harbor are the headline acts, with permit on the flats a close third.
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Morehead City, North Carolina
Morehead City is the Crystal Coast's charter hub and home of the Big Rock Blue Marlin Tournament, one of the richest billfish tournaments in the world each June. The Gulf Stream sweeps close to Cape Lookout here, and the fleet also enjoys a famous winter run of giant bluefin tuna within sight of the beach.
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Stuart, Florida
Stuart calls itself the Sailfish Capital of the World, and winter cold fronts stacking Atlantic sailfish along the color change a short run from St. Lucie Inlet are the reason why. The town has hosted sailfish tournaments since the 1930s, and multi-fish release days are still routine when a north wind gets the bite going.
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US Gulf Coast
Tampa Bay, Florida
Tampa Bay is a snook, redfish, and spotted seatrout powerhouse, with grass flats, mangrove shorelines, and passes that also draw big tarpon each summer.
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Destin, Florida
Known as the 'world's luckiest fishing village,' Destin offers deep water close to shore - red snapper, grouper, and pelagics are all within a short run of the pass.
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Port Aransas, Texas
The Texas Coastal Bend serves up redfish and speckled trout in the bays and jetties, with bull reds and tarpon along the beachfront in late summer.
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Galveston, Texas
Galveston's sprawling bay complex and miles-long granite jetties anchor one of the largest inshore fisheries in Texas, with speckled trout and redfish headlining a deep lineup. Summer brings tarpon rolling along the beachfront, and the fall flounder run through the passes is a Texas tradition.
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Orange Beach, Alabama
Orange Beach is home to one of the largest charter fleets on the Gulf Coast, running out of Perdido Pass to Alabama's enormous artificial reef zones. The state's reef-building program covers more than a thousand square miles of bottom and underpins a red snapper fishery locals bill as the best in the world.
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Panama City Beach, Florida
Panama City Beach supports one of the biggest charter and head-boat fleets in Florida, working the wrecks, ledges, and artificial reefs scattered across the Gulf outside St. Andrews Pass. Short runs to productive bottom made this a family charter town, with half-day snapper trips and summer king mackerel trolling as staples.
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Pensacola, Florida
Pensacola's red snapper fishery dates to the 1800s, when sailing smacks shipped Gulf snapper across the country and made the town America's original snapper port. Today's fleet works hundreds of reefs and wrecks - including the USS Oriskany, the world's largest artificial reef - and the spring cobia run along the beaches is a Panhandle institution.
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South Padre Island, Texas
At the southern tip of Texas, South Padre Island pairs the gin-clear, hypersaline flats of the Lower Laguna Madre with the shortest run to blue water on the Texas coast. Sight-fishing for redfish and trout in inches of water shares the calendar with snook and tarpon around the jetties and summer billfish offshore.
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Venice, Louisiana
Perched at the end of the road on the Mississippi River delta, Venice is the yellowfin tuna capital of the Gulf, where nutrient-rich river water pulls bait and pelagics to deepwater oil rigs within day-trip range. Locals call it Tuna Town, and the winter bite over the Midnight Lump salt dome is one of the most famous big-tuna fisheries in the country. The surrounding delta marsh doubles as world-class redfish water.
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US West Coast
San Diego, California
San Diego is the gateway to some of the best saltwater fishing in the Pacific - calico bass and yellowtail inshore, and long-range trips to bluefin and yellowfin tuna offshore.
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Los Angeles, California
The LA and Long Beach coastline holds calico bass, halibut, and barred surfperch, with seasonal runs of white seabass and yellowtail around the offshore islands.
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San Francisco, California
San Francisco's party-boat tradition goes back generations, with boats working the water outside the Golden Gate for king salmon and drifting live bait across bay flats for California halibut and striped bass. The Farallon Islands, roughly 27 miles offshore, hold some of the densest rockfish and lingcod grounds in central California.
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Alaska & Pacific NW
Sitka, Alaska
Sitka is one of Alaska's premier saltwater destinations, with king and silver salmon plus halibut and rockfish in the protected waters off Baranof Island.
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Homer, Alaska
Homer calls itself the Halibut Fishing Capital of the World, and the charter fleet stacked along the Homer Spit backs the claim up. Boats work Kachemak Bay and lower Cook Inlet, where big Pacific halibut lie on gravel and mud banks swept by some of the largest tides in North America.
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Ketchikan, Alaska
Ketchikan bills itself as the Salmon Capital of the World, and all five species of Pacific salmon return through the waters around Revillagigedo Island. King salmon show in May and June, heavy pushes of coho follow through late summer, and halibut and lingcod hold on nearby banks - all fished within sight of the rainforest.
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Westport, Washington
Westport hosts the largest charter fleet on the Washington coast and has long promoted itself as the Salmon Fishing Capital of the World. Boats cross the Grays Harbor bar to troll for kings and coho in open ocean, with productive lingcod and rockfish grounds a short run from the beach.
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Caribbean
Sosúa, Dominican Republic
The Dominican north coast drops into deep blue water fast, putting mahi-mahi, wahoo, and marlin within a short run. Summer is prime for pelagics off Sosúa and neighboring Cabarete.
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Punta Cana, Dominican Republic
Punta Cana's blue water holds white and blue marlin, mahi, and wahoo, with a productive spring white marlin bite that draws anglers from around the world.
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Cancún, Mexico
Cancún and Isla Mujeres offer sailfish, mahi, and a famous winter migration of giant schools of sailfish and tuna feeding on bait balls off the coast.
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Bimini, Bahamas
Just 50 miles from Florida across the Gulf Stream, Bimini is where Ernest Hemingway chased giant tuna and marlin in the 1930s and much of modern big-game fishing took shape. The Stream's edge runs hard along the western shore - the channel between Bimini and Cat Cay is still called Tuna Alley - while the flats behind the islands are storied bonefish water.
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Grand Cayman, Cayman Islands
Grand Cayman is the peak of an underwater mountain, and its wall drops into thousands of feet of blue water within a quarter mile of shore in places - few destinations put anglers over deep water faster. Wahoo and yellowfin are the winter staples, blue marlin show through spring and early summer, and Twelve Mile Bank west of George Town concentrates bait and pelagics offshore.
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Marsh Harbour, Abaco
Abaco pairs blue-water billfishing beyond its barrier cays with the Marls, a vast maze of mangrove flats on the island's west side that ranks among the finest bonefish grounds in the Bahamas. Marsh Harbour has long been the boating and charter hub of the Abacos, with marinas that fill for the spring billfish tournaments.
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Nassau, Bahamas
New Providence sits beside the Tongue of the Ocean, a deep-water canyon plunging more than a mile down just off the island, which keeps billfish and pelagics within easy reach of the capital's charter docks. When the blue water is quiet, reef lines close to shore give up wahoo, barracuda and yellowtail snapper.
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Oranjestad, Aruba
Aruba lies outside the hurricane belt with deep water minutes from the beach, and its calm leeward coast makes it one of the southern Caribbean's most dependable charter destinations. Boats run year-round from Oranjestad and the Palm Beach piers for wahoo, mahi and billfish pushed along the island by the steady trades.
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Providenciales, Turks and Caicos
The Caicos Banks spread out from Provo in every direction - hundreds of square miles of hard white flats holding bonefish - while the wall on the ocean side plunges thousands of feet within sight of shore. That pairing of skinny water and abrupt deep makes it one of the Caribbean's most versatile fisheries.
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San Juan, Puerto Rico
San Juan sits on the edge of the Puerto Rico Trench, and the stretch of blue water just off the capital is known to locals as Marlin Alley - blue marlin are raised within sight of the old city walls. The city hosts the San Juan International Billfish Tournament, one of the longest-running billfish tournaments in the world, and its lagoons hold resident tarpon year-round.
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St. Thomas, US Virgin Islands
The North Drop, roughly 20 miles northeast of St. Thomas, is one of the most famous blue marlin grounds on earth - a sheer edge where the shelf falls away toward the Puerto Rico Trench and bait stacks up against the wall. Summer full moons here are legendary for multi-marlin days, and the fishery made the Red Hook charter docks on the island's East End a fixture of big-game lore.
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Central America
Belize
Belize's atolls and flats are a fly-fishing dream, offering realistic shots at a bonefish, tarpon, and permit grand slam over clear, wadeable flats.
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Iztapa, Guatemala
Iztapa is the jumping-off point for Guatemala's Pacific sailfish grounds, widely regarded as the most prolific sailfishery on earth. Converging currents stack bait 20 to 40 miles offshore, and double-digit release days are routine through the winter peak.
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Piñas Bay, Panama
Piñas Bay, on Panama's remote Darién coast, is home to Zane Grey Reef, one of the most storied black marlin grounds in the Pacific. The seamount rises from deep water only a few miles offshore and has drawn big-game anglers since the days of its namesake.
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Quepos, Costa Rica
Quepos is the heart of Costa Rica's central Pacific sailfishery, with a large charter fleet based at Marina Pez Vela raising double-digit sailfish on good days at the peak of the dry season. Multi-day runs to the offshore seamounts and FADs produce some of the most consistent blue marlin fishing in the Pacific.
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Tamarindo, Costa Rica
Tamarindo and neighboring Playa Flamingo anchor the charter fleet on Costa Rica's Guanacaste coast, where blue water lies close to shore once the seasonal winds ease. Sailfish, marlin and yellowfin work the offshore ledges while the volcanic rocks of the Catalina Islands hold heavyweight snapper inshore.
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South America
Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
Rio's coastline and offshore banks hold dorado, tuna, and billfish, with a strong nearshore fishery for snook and other inshore species around the bays and rocky points.
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Mar del Plata, Argentina
Mar del Plata is Argentina's fishing capital, and the port behind the famous orange-hulled fleet of the banquina de pescadores also hosts the country's biggest party-boat and charter scene. Spring and fall bring hard runs of bluefish - the local 'anchoa de banco' - while summer offers jigging and live-baiting for yellowtail amberjack, the prized 'pez limón,' over offshore reefs and wrecks.
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Punta del Este, Uruguay
Uruguay's premier resort town sits exactly where the Río de la Plata estuary meets the open Atlantic, and that brackish mixing zone produces one of South America's great black drum fisheries - the 'corvina negra' here grow to enormous sizes. Charter boats work the rocky bottoms off Isla Gorriti and Isla de Lobos for drum, bluefish and flounder within sight of the marina.
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Salinas, Ecuador
Salinas sits on the tip of Ecuador's Santa Elena Peninsula, where the cold Humboldt Current collides with warm equatorial water and deep ocean lies within a short run of the marina. That convergence makes this one of the most consistent billfish grounds on the Pacific coast of South America, with striped marlin the signature bite and blue and black marlin, sailfish and big yellowfin tuna in the spread.
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San Cristóbal, Galápagos
Puerto Baquerizo Moreno on San Cristóbal is the gateway to some of the densest striped marlin concentrations in the Pacific, with fish stacking on submerged banks a short run from the harbor. Fishing inside the Galápagos Marine Reserve is tightly regulated and billfish are released, but double-digit marlin days here are a real possibility rather than a fish story.
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Europe
Algarve, Portugal
Portugal's south coast offers seabream, bass, and offshore access to bluefin tuna and blue marlin, with a warm-season big-game fishery out of ports like Vilamoura.
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Cornwall, United Kingdom
Cornwall's coast is prime UK bass country, with pollack, mackerel, and wrasse over the reefs and a summer run of bass that draws lure anglers to the rocky headlands.
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Costa del Sol, Spain
Spain's southern Mediterranean coast offers seabream and bass inshore, with access to bluefin tuna and dorado offshore in the warm months.
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Gran Canaria, Canary Islands
The south coast of Gran Canaria drops into deep water minutes from the marinas at Puerto Rico and Pasito Blanco, and its summer blue marlin fishery is one of the most reliable in the eastern Atlantic. Some of the largest blues ever caught on this side of the ocean have come from this stretch of coast.
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Horta, Azores
The mid-Atlantic Azores sit on a chain of seamounts that pull in blue marlin and some of the biggest bigeye tuna in the world. Horta, on Faial, is the archipelago's historic big-game port, with boats running to the famous Condor Bank a short steam offshore.
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Kinsale, Ireland
Kinsale is the historic home of Irish sea angling, with a charter fleet working the wrecks and rough ground off the Old Head of Kinsale. Summer brings blue shark offshore, while the pollack, wrasse and bass fishing along this stretch of the Cork coast ranks with the best in Ireland.
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Lofoten, Norway
Every winter millions of skrei - mature Arctic cod - pour out of the Barents Sea to spawn around the Lofoten islands, feeding a fishery that has run for over a thousand years. Svolvær hosts the World Cod Fishing Championship each March, and summer brings big halibut and coalfish under the midnight sun.
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Madeira, Portugal
Madeira's volcanic drop-offs plunge to serious depth within minutes of the marina, making it one of the few places on earth with a genuine shot at a grander Atlantic blue marlin. Boats out of Funchal and Calheta have put some of the biggest blue marlin ever seen in the Atlantic on the leader, most of them in high summer.
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Malta
Malta sits mid-channel between Sicily and North Africa on the migration route of Mediterranean bluefin, and its lampuki (dorado) season is a national institution. Every autumn, boats fish traditional palm-frond floats - kannizzati - that gather dorado offshore, a method used here for centuries.
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Sicily, Italy
Sicilian waters carry some of the deepest fishing traditions in Europe, from the swordfish hunted from tall-masted feluccas in the Strait of Messina to the old bluefin tonnare of the Egadi Islands. Modern charters out of Palermo and the island's other ports troll for bluefin, dorado and bonito over the same grounds.
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Split, Croatia
Split's charter fleet trolls the deep central Adriatic between the islands of Brač, Hvar and Vis, some of Europe's most dependable bluefin tuna water. The Adriatic has fished bluefin for centuries, and autumn adds a run of dorado around the offshore islands.
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Africa
Cape Town, South Africa
Cape Town offers snoek, yellowtail, and geelbek inshore, and a shot at giant bluefin and yellowfin tuna on the offshore banks. The cold, nutrient-rich water is packed with life.
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Durban, South Africa
Durban is the home of South Africa's deep-sea ski-boat tradition, with the warm Agulhas Current sweeping gamefish tight to the KwaZulu-Natal coast. Summer brings couta and billfish to the ledges, and the famous June-July sardine run turns the inshore into a moving feast.
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Watamu, Kenya
Watamu fronts the North Kenya Banks and is East Africa's most storied billfish coast, with a big-game tradition dating back to Hemingway's 1930s trips out of neighboring Malindi. When the Kaskazi monsoon settles from November to March, sailfish and marlin push within a short run of the reef, and the fishery is famous for multi-billfish days.
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Zanzibar, Tanzania
Zanzibar's north coast at Nungwi fishes the deep channels between the island, Pemba and the Tanzanian mainland - some of East Africa's most productive billfish water. Sailfish and marlin ride the current lines through the southern summer, while yellowfin tuna run the channels hard from August into October.
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Australia & Pacific
Cairns, Australia
Cairns and the Great Barrier Reef are famous for giant black marlin, along with reef fishing for coral trout and trevally and a strong nearshore fishery.
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Sydney, Australia
Sydney offers kingfish and snapper on the inshore reefs, bream and flathead in the harbour, and a marlin and tuna run on the shelf a short run offshore.
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Bay of Islands, New Zealand
Zane Grey set up his famous fishing camp at Otehei Bay in the 1920s and declared these waters an angler's El Dorado, putting the Bay of Islands on the map as one of the world's great marlin grounds. Summer game boats still run to the same offshore banks and ledges, while kingfish around the pins and big snapper keep the inshore fleet busy all year.
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Darwin, Northern Territory
Darwin is best known for barramundi, but its dry-season bluewater fishery is one of northern Australia's best-kept secrets, with sailfish, Spanish mackerel and big trevally working the bait off Dundee Beach and the harbour approaches. A large charter fleet splits its time between the blue water, the reefs and the tidal rivers.
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Denarau, Fiji
Port Denarau, just outside Nadi, is Fiji's main game-fishing hub, with charters running out through the Mamanuca Islands to steep outer-reef walls and open blue water. Blue marlin, wahoo, mahi mahi and yellowfin patrol the reef edges, and giant trevally crash poppers along the coral.
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Exmouth, Western Australia
Exmouth sits where the continental shelf swings to within a few miles of Ningaloo Reef, putting blue and black marlin, sailfish and yellowfin tuna in easy range of trailer boats and charters alike. The shallow flats of Exmouth Gulf add a genuine sight-casting fishery for permit, bonefish and giant trevally, a combination few destinations anywhere can match.
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Gold Coast, Queensland
The Gold Coast Seaway gives one of Australia's largest charter fleets all-weather access to grounds that start only a few miles off the beach. Summer brings a renowned light-tackle run of juvenile black marlin along the inshore bait grounds, with blue marlin, mahi mahi and wahoo out on the wider fathom lines.
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Port Douglas, Queensland
An hour north of Cairns, Port Douglas fronts the same Great Barrier Reef ribbon reefs that host the most famous giant black marlin fishery on earth. The spring heavy-tackle season draws game boats from around the world, while reef charters fill the rest of the calendar with coral trout, Spanish mackerel and trevally.
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Port Vila, Vanuatu
The deep water starts almost at the harbour mouth in Port Vila, giving the island of Efate a genuine year-round blue marlin fishery only minutes from the dock. Charters troll steep ledges and FADs within sight of town, with wahoo, yellowfin tuna and mahi mahi filling out the spread.
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Tahiti, French Polynesia
Zane Grey landed his 1,040-pound giant Tahitian striped marlin off Tahiti in 1930 - celebrated as the first grander billfish ever caught on rod and reel - and the charter fleet out of Papeete still works the same water, which plunges to great depths just outside the reef passes. Blue marlin and yellowfin tuna are caught year-round, with mahi mahi and wahoo thick along the offshore FADs.
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Asia
Phuket, Thailand
The Andaman Sea off Phuket holds sailfish, mahi, and giant trevally, with light-tackle and popping opportunities around the islands and reefs.
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Okinawa, Japan
Okinawa's subtropical waters hold giant trevally, mahi, and a range of reef species, with world-class popping and jigging over deep structure.
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Bali, Indonesia
Benoa Harbour is the hub of Bali's charter fleet, with deep Indian Ocean water dropping away fast off the island's southern peninsula. Dry-season currents push mahi mahi, wahoo, yellowfin tuna and billfish along the FADs and ledges off Nusa Dua and Uluwatu, all within a short run of the marina.
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Kuala Rompin, Malaysia
Kuala Rompin, on Peninsular Malaysia's east coast, is widely regarded as one of the most reliable sailfish fisheries in the world, with fish gathering in numbers over the shallow banks of the South China Sea each season. Multiple releases in a day are the norm at the peak, which has made the little fishing town a bucket-list stop for light-tackle and fly anglers.
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Mirissa, Sri Lanka
Mirissa's harbour on Sri Lanka's south coast sits a short run from the continental shelf edge, where the same deep water that draws blue whales holds yellowfin tuna, sailfish and mahi mahi. A growing charter fleet works the drop-off during the calm northeast-monsoon window, the same season that made the town famous for whale watching.
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US Mid-Atlantic
Barnegat Light, New Jersey
Barnegat Light, at the north end of Long Beach Island, is home to one of New Jersey's most storied commercial and charter fishing fleets. Barnegat Ridge has drawn boats chasing bonito and false albacore for generations, and the fall striped bass run down the LBI surf line is one of the coast's classic events.
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Cape May, New Jersey
Sitting at the mouth of Delaware Bay, Cape May supports one of the largest charter and party-boat fleets in the Mid-Atlantic. The bay's spring black drum run is world famous, the rips off Cape May Point hold striped bass and bluefish, and canyon boats reach yellowfin and marlin water in a long morning's run.
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Ocean City, Maryland
Ocean City bills itself as the White Marlin Capital of the World, and the White Marlin Open held here every August is one of the largest and richest billfish tournaments anywhere. Charter boats run from the West Ocean City harbor to the Baltimore, Poor Man's, and Washington canyons, where summer trolling turns up white marlin, tuna, and mahi in numbers few East Coast ports can match.
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Virginia Beach, Virginia
Charter boats out of Rudee Inlet fish everything from the pilings of the Chesapeake Bay Bridge-Tunnel to the canyon edge off Norfolk Canyon. Summer sight-casting for cobia at the mouth of the Chesapeake is among the best anywhere, and late-summer offshore trips find white marlin, yellowfin, and mahi.
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Hawaii
Honolulu, Hawaii
Oahu's sportfishing fleet runs out of Kewalo Basin, minutes from Waikiki, and the island's steep leeward drop-offs put blue marlin water within a short run of the dock. This is one of the birthplaces of Pacific big-game fishing, with marlin, ahi, ono, and mahi mahi caught in every month of the year.
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Kona, Hawaii
The lee of the Big Island gives Kona flat-calm mornings and a seafloor that plunges to thousands of feet within a couple of miles of the harbor, making it one of the most consistent blue marlin fisheries on earth. Granders have been caught here for decades, and the Hawaiian International Billfish Tournament has run out of Kona since 1959.
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Maalaea, Maui
Maui's charter fleet is concentrated at Maalaea Harbor on the island's sheltered south side, where boats slide out into the lee of Haleakala. The deep channels between Maui, Lanai, and Kahoolawe funnel current and bait, keeping blue marlin, ahi, ono, and mahi mahi within reach year-round.
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Mexico & Baja
Cabo San Lucas, Mexico
Cabo San Lucas is the marlin capital of the world, where the Sea of Cortez meets the Pacific at Land's End and one of the planet's largest charter fleets reaches blue water within minutes of the harbor. Striped marlin stack up on the offshore banks in staggering numbers each winter, and summer brings blue and black marlin big enough to anchor the famous Bisbee's Black & Blue tournament.
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Cozumel, Mexico
Cozumel's western shore drops fast into the Yucatán Current, and each spring white marlin and sailfish stream north past the island within easy reach of its charter fleet. Boats out of San Miguel can be trolling deep blue water within minutes of leaving the dock.
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Isla Mujeres, Mexico
Each winter one of the Atlantic's great sailfish migrations stacks up off Isla Mujeres, where packs of sails corral sardine bait balls along the edge of the Yucatán Current. The fishing is often visual - frigate birds wheeling over showering bait with lit-up sailfish beneath.
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Mazatlán, Mexico
Mazatlán is one of Mexico's original big-game ports, with a charter fleet that has worked its close-in billfish grounds for generations. Blue water starts within a dozen miles of the marina, keeping runs short and lines in early.
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Puerto Vallarta, Mexico
Puerto Vallarta's fleet fishes the deep mouth of Banderas Bay and the offshore grounds of El Banco and La Corbeteña, seamount country famous for giant yellowfin tuna. Blue and black marlin ride the warm water in through fall, and the port hosts one of Mexico's oldest international billfish tournaments.
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Indian Ocean
Black River, Mauritius
Grande Rivière Noire is the historic heart of Mauritian big-game fishing, where the seabed plunges into true blue water within a couple of miles of the moorings. Blue marlin are the headline act of the southern summer, with boats trolling the ledge beneath Le Morne Brabant and the FAD lines off the west coast.
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Mahé, Seychelles
Mahé's charter fleet works the edge of the Mahé Plateau, where the shallow bank falls away into deep Indian Ocean and sailfish, wahoo, dorado and yellowfin stack along the ledge. Bottom fishing the plateau for snapper and grouper is a Seychellois tradition in its own right, and many boats mix both into a day.
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Malé, Maldives
Charters out of Malé can be over deep water within minutes of the harbor, trolling the outer reef edges where sailfish, wahoo and yellowfin patrol the drop-off. The channels between atolls funnel current and bait, and traditional Maldivian night fishing for snapper remains a staple alongside the modern sportfishing fleet.
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Nosy Be, Madagascar
Nosy Be is Madagascar's big-game capital, with charters running from Hell-Ville to the banks and drop-offs of the Mozambique Channel and the remote reefs of the Mitsio archipelago. The area is equally renowned as a giant trevally destination, with poppers thrown at reef edges that see very few boats.
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Middle East
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